Slipped Away
by BadWolfOfCamelot
Summary: I huge mistake leaves someone devastated bat the Valentine's Dance.


_It's all my fault. I can tell. It's my fault that she's standing in front of the school in a little black dress, black ballet flats with her hair pulled back by a black headband holding to microphones together. It's my fault that everyone, but me, just gasped in shock. I should've done it. Why did she have to see it? Why didn't I run after her? I could've saved her from crashing faster than my laptop when she left it in the rain. _All this ran through my head as I watched her walk slowly to the shiny piano at the front of the gym. She sits gracefully on the brown piano bench and takes a deep breath before speaking into a microphone.

"You probably know me. You should. You probably _don't _know I own a dress. And I play piano. And guitar. And I can sing." Some football players whoop and whistle as heart shape balloons are kicked lazily. "So you're all gonna **shut up **and listen." She breathes with a grin playing at her lips. "Sooo this song is dedicated to a good frien- well, not anymore." Her diamond blue eyes bare right into my soul. "This person isn't dead, though it may sound like they are. But sometimes I wish they were. It'd make life a whole lot easier." I look at my shoes, knowing she's talking about me. "This person was the only person who knew it all. Not even Carly knew." I am the only living soul who knows, and I'd rather give Gibby a skunk-treatment tomato sponge bath than tell Carly about her abusive parents. How every night she is attacked with insults and bottles, reminding her that she's a waste of space, and how every morning she wakes with a new bruise.

"He knows secrets that would blow your puny minds. He knows all my weak spots yet he took my heart and broke it. He needs to know, I'm not cool with the. And he needs to know that he's the reason that I haven't been able to eat, sleep, or barley even breath for the last three days." To my left, Carly placed her hand on her heart, mouthing 'She's not eating?' to herself.

"And he needs to know that I know that there _can't_ be a second chance. Message received, I know now that I will never, ever be as good as her. And even though it tears me to tiny shreds every time I even hear his name, I know there's nothing I can do. Because his heart belongs to her now." She wipes the corner of her eye as I drift into a flashback.

"_Are you kidding?" Carly asks me, whipping the grin from my face._

"_No, I'm not." I fidget with the corsage. _

"_But, why?" She inquires, shutting her locker. "I thought you hated her?"_

"_Never. I may fight with her, but it doesn't mean I don't love her." If I wanted to further confuse Carly, I succeeded._

"_Uh, let me get this straight. You want to ask Sam to the Valentine's dance on Friday, but you want to practice with me so you don't sound like a dork?" She tucks a strand on black hair behind her ear as I nod profusely. She sighs. "Okay."_

_I clear my throat. "Will you go to the Valentine's dance with me?" I smirk before she places her hands on her hips, giving me that _o-m-g-really? _look._

"_Say it like you mean it. Put some feeling into it." She commands. I sigh._

"_I've loved you since the moment we kissed. I know you might night feel the same way, but I really do love you. Will you go to the Valentine's dance with me?" I hold out the corsage as Carly grins. She takes the flower from my hand and pulls me into a hug._

"_Much better." She whispers whilst releasing me. In the distance I hear the sound of books crashing to the floor. I whip my head to the right to see Sam with books at her feet and tears at her eyes. Almost in slow motion she turns and runs up the stairs, one step and a time, her golden-blonde curls sway from side to side. I try to move but my legs don't listen. My voice gets caught in my throat as she turns the corner._

"So, he's slipped from my fingers. The only person I've ever let slip away without meaning to. He's been stolen, and there's nothing I can do but let him know. Thanks." She grins to an enormous, earsplitting applause. She fit the mic into the holder and popped a balloon with her heel, ensuring silence. Grinning adequately, she takes her seat, placing her fragile, delicate flingers on the black and white keys. Fragile, just like her heart… the one I've broken.

_Na na__  
__Na na na na na _Her soft, angelic voice pieces my heart like cupid's arrow.__

_I miss you__  
__Miss you so bad__  
__I don't forget you__  
__Oh it's so sad.__  
_

Wendy strums Sam's acoustic guitar while the rest of her band scrambles to their instrument in determination to help their depressed, blonde friend.

_**I hope you can hear me**__**  
**__**I remember it clearly. **_**Rona Burger ****starts pounding on her drums as ****Rebecca Berkowitz joined Sam as a backup singer.**

___ The day you slipped away...__  
__Was the day I found__  
__It, won't be the same__  
__Oh _She sniffed and shook out her body, as if shaking off a neck pain.

_Na na__  
__Na na na na na_I turn to Carly, who's dabbing at her eyes.__

_I didn't get around to kiss you__  
__Goodbye on the hand__  
__I wish that I could see you again__  
__I know that I can't ooooooooooooh__  
__I hope you can hear me__  
__Cause I remember it clearly _She stands up quickly, switching piano for guitar with Rip-Off Rodney, fitting the mic into the tall stand.__

_The day you slipped away...__  
__Was the day I found__  
__It, won't be the same__  
__Oh _She pounded on the red eclectic guitar as little drops of water formed at the corners of her eyes. No, certainly those weren't tears! She didn't even cry when she found out that Pete and Jonah were **cheating** on her! Surely they were sweat beads, surely.__

_I've had my wake up__  
__Won't you wake up__  
__I keep asking why.__  
__And I can't take it__  
__It wasn't fake it__  
__It happened you passed by___

_Now you're gone__  
__Now you're gone__  
__There you go__  
__There you go__  
__Somewhere I can't bring you back__  
__Now you're gone__  
__Now you're gone__  
__There you go__  
__There you go__  
__Somewhere you're not coming back__  
_

She took a shuttering breath before singing her heart out and tearing our mine.

___The day you slipped away...__  
__Was the day I found__  
__It, won't be the same__  
__Oh_

_The day you slipped away...__  
__Was the day that I found__  
__It, won't be the same__  
__Oh___

_Na na__  
__Na na na na na___

_I miss you... _She trailed off.

You could hear a pin drop. Not a sound was made, no breath taken. The only noise is the rippling effect from her last words. The last words before she collapses before the whole school in sobs, only to be engulfed by hugs. As soon as my feet remembered to work, they took off, shoving their way to the center of the circle. Before I even get there, she stands up; I froze.

Oh, if looks could kill. A single clap comes from the back of the gym, followed by another, and another. All three hundred of us turn our heads to none other than a shirtless Gibby, clapping slowly before coming to an awkward stop. I turn back to the center of the circle, running up to her.

"Sam, I-" she cut me off with a slap. A low 'oooooh' emanates from around me as boys fit their fists to their mouths. "Sam please," She raises her hand again, but before she can hit me I pull her in and crash my lips onto hers. That's when the real applause begins. She snakes her arms around my neck as I pull in her waist. I pull away first, making sure she doesn't run away.

"I thought you asked Carly to the dance!" Sam shouts to me over thunderous applause. I shake my head.

"I need her 'not-sounding-like-a-nub' approval." I smirk before pulling her into a hug. "Oh, and Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Eat, Carly's worried."


End file.
